Perhaps no cinematic frame better encapsulates the insight that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” – certainly not in the tomb-raiding adventure genre – than one near the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Harrison Ford – wiry, handsome, unarmed for once – and Karen Allen – girlish, lovely, clad in a white silk dress – hold hands in the gloom. They appear like a couple on their wedding day – frightened, humbled, oddly innocent.
But they’re not looking at each other. They’re staring away across a shadowy clearing to the glowing footstool of the Lord, the deity who has just massacred the enemy of his chosen people and left Ford and Allen unscathed.
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